A Bard's Life

Greetings, and welcome to another exciting addition of Obscure Arcana. Today’s article is devoted to spells for “the fifth man” to use in his travels and adventures. I feel like I don't see bards enough, and I want that to change. Bards are fun and exciting characters, always good for a laugh and a song, and can assist their allies in reaching epic heights. I hope with these spells added to the bard's repertoire they can perform even greater exploits!

This spells greatly increases the range of your voice and any instrument you play. You gain a +10 bonus on all Perform checks with an auditory component, and all creatures within 500 feet of you can hear your performance with a DC 0 Perception check.

Further, the range of all of your bardic performances is doubled for the duration of this spell, and creatures suffer a -1 penalty to saves made to resist the effects of your bardic performances. Finally, within the area affected by the spell, as long as your performance has an auditory component, a Perception check (DC 10) is required to hear anything other than your performance. If a Perception check would normally be required to hear a particular noise that is not part of your performance, the DC of that Perception check is instead increased by +10.

If cast outdoors, a magical storm gathers above you, and your voice projects from the storm clouds. This increases the range at which you can clearly be heard to 1,000 feet. The bonus to your Perform checks increases to +20, and the penalty to saves made to resist the effects of your bardic performances increases to -2. Additionally, the DC of Perception checks to hear noises that are not part of your performance is increased to 15, and the DC to hear a noise that would normally require a Perception check and is not part of your performance is increased by +15, instead of +10.

You infuse an ally with great fighting prowess, so long as you abstain from combat. The subject gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, a +4 natural armor bonus to AC, immunity to fear affects, and DR 5/magic. This does not stack with damage reduction gained from other sources.

The spell ends if you take any hostile actions (including making an attack or a combat maneuver check, or casting a spell or using a spell-like or supernatural ability that deals damage or allows a saving throw that is not denoted as harmless).

You create a line of floating shields made of pure force energy. These shields float roughly 3 feet off the ground, are 5 feet wide, and form a single straight line whose length is equal to 5 feet per caster level. The wall provides a +4 shield bonus to AC to all creatures adjacent to it on either side, and protects creatures standing adjacent to it from the effects of the magic missile spell. The bonus to AC is a force effect and applies to incorporeal touch attacks. Creatures can move through the wall, but doing so requires two squares of movement.

For the spell’s duration, your swordarm is filled with vital energy, and you can channel that force into your weapon. As a standard action, you can make a ranged attack with a melee weapon, swinging it and firing a bolt of energy from its tip. This attack has a maximum range of 30 feet. If the attack hits, the target takes damage as though he had been hit by the melee weapon.